Samuel Botsford Buckley was the assistant state geologist of Texas in 1860 when he named this oak in honor of Benjamin Franklin Shumard, the Texas state geologist at the time. Both men had roots in the East. Buckley grew up in the Town of Torrey (not named for botanist John Torrey), New York, in Yates County and Shumard was from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
There are three existing populations but they are small with fewer than 50 trees each. Trees were first discovered in 1999 and there are no historical occurrences.
No short-term trends have been established.
No long-term trends have been established.
Utility, recreational, and transportation construction may threaten one population. Some invasive species are present that may impact regeneration. One population has had logging and ditching take place nearby.
Protect all trees from the effects of nearby construction or development. Suppress invasive species within the area.
There are no known research needs at this time.
In New York Shumard Oak has been reported from seasonally flooded swamp forests dominated by maples and other oak species (New York Natural Heritage Species 2013). Rare in moist to wet woods (Rhoads and Block 2007). Mesic slopes and bottoms, stream banks and poorly drained uplands (FNA 1997). Chiefly in moist, lowland soil (Gleason and Cronquist 1991). Rich woods, bottoms, or calcareous slopes (Fernald 1950).
* probable association but not confirmed.
In New York Shumard Oak is known only from Niagara County.
Shumard Oak is most common in the lower Mississippi and Ohio River valleys, and in the southeast, with isolated records north to Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Quercus shumardii var schumardii is a native, deciduous tree growing up to 35 m tall. Its bark is gray-brown to dark brown, shallowly fissured with scaly or light-colored flat ridges and pinkish inner bark. The twigs are smooth, hairless (glabrous) and gray to light brown. The terminal buds are glabrous, gray to grayish brown, egg-shaped (ovoid) or broadly ellipsoid, 4 to 8 mm long, and often noticeably 5-angled in cross section. Leaves have a long (20 to 60 mm) smooth petiole, a broadly elliptic to obovate shape and are 100-200 mm long by 60 to 150 mm wide, with an obtuse to truncate or occasionally acute base. The leaf margins are 5 to 9-lobed with 15 to 50 awns. The lobes are oblong or expanded towards the top (distally) and have pointed tips. The leaves have glossy, glabrous upper surface and undersides that are also glabrous except for prominent axillary tufts of densely matted wooly hairs (tomentum) The secondary veins are raised on both leaf surfaces. The fruits are acorns, maturing biennially, and have saucer to cup-shaped caps that cover about 1/4 of the nut. The cap's outer surface is glabrous or puberulent, the inner surface is light-brown to red-brown, glabrous or with ring of pubescence around scar. The nuts are egg-shaped (ovoid) to oblong, occasionally subglobose, and 14 to 30 mm by 10 to 20 mm (FNA 1997).
Quercus shumardii var schumardii is a native, deciduous tree growing up to 35 m tall. Its bark is gray-brown to dark brown, shallowly fissured with scaly or light-colored flat ridges and pinkish inner bark. The twigs are smooth, hairless (glabrous) and gray to light brown. The terminal buds are glabrous, gray to grayish brown, egg-shaped (ovoid) or broadly ellipsoid, 4 to 8 mm long, and often noticeably 5-angled in cross section. Leaves have a long (20 to 60 mm) smooth stalk (petiole), a broadly elliptic to obovate shape and are 100-200 mm long by 60 to 150 mm wide with an obtuse to truncate or occasional acute base. The leaf margins are 5 to 9 lobed with 15 to 50 awns. The lobes are oblong or expanded towards the top (distally) and have pointed tips. The leaves have glossy, glabrous upper surface and undersides (abaxially) that are also glabrous except for prominent axillary tufts of densely matted wooly hairs (tomentum), the secondary veins are raised on both surfaces. The fruits are acorns that mature biennially, and have saucer to cup-shaped caps that cover 1/4 of the nut. The cap's outer surface is glabrous or puberulent, the inner surface is light-brown to red-brown, glabrous or with ring of pubescence around scar. The cap scales often have pale margins, their tips are tightly appressed, and obtuse or acute. The nuts are egg-shaped (ovoid) to oblong, occasionally subglobose, and 14 to 30 mm by 10 to 20 mm. (FNA 1997)
Shumard's oak is best identified through the examination of its leaves and mature acorns with an accompanying habitat description. Terminal branch sections with intact winter buds should also be examined if possible.
Shumard Oak is similar in appearance to northern red, black, and scarlet oaks (Q. rubra, Q. velutina, and Q. coccinea). Black and Scarlet Oaks can be separated by their uniformly pubescent terminal buds,while Northern Red Oak typically has shallower leaf sinuses than does Shumard oak and lack's the latter's raised leaf veins and conscpicuous axillary hair tufts. In addition the fruits vary among the species. Scarlet Oak acorns are enclosed for 1/2 of their height or less in a thick cup-shaped cap with lustrous scales. Black Oak has acorns enclosed for 1/3 or less in a bowl shaped-cup of thin, loose, dull, wooly scales. Northern red oak has acorns with flat, saucer-shaped, beret-like caps enclosing only 1/4 or less of the acorn. The acorns of Shumard oak have caps with thick walls (over 1.5 mm in cross section) and are saucer to cup-shaped enclosing more than 1/4 of the nut (FNA 1997, Reznicek et al 2011).
Shumard's oak can be seen year round in vegetative form. The leaves are typically present from mid-May and persist until late October. The mature acorns fruits are present every two years from early August through late October.
The time of year you would expect to find Shumard Oak vegetative and fruiting in New York.
Shumard Oak
Quercus shumardii var. shumardii None
Flora of North America Editorial Committee. 1997. Flora of North America, vol. 3 Magnoliophyta: Magnoliidae and Hamamelidae. Oxford University Press, New York.
Fernald, M. L. 1950. Gray's manual of botany. 8th edition. Corrected printing (1970). D. Van Nostrand Company, New York. 1632 pp.
Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York. 910 pp.
Holmgren, Noel. 1998. The Illustrated Companion to Gleason and Cronquist's Manual. Illustrations of the Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York.
Little, E.L., Jr. 1979. Checklist of United States trees (native and naturalized). Agriculture Handbook No. 541. U.S. Forest Service, Washington, D.C. 375 pp.
MICHIGAN FLORA ONLINE. A. A. Reznicek, E. G. Voss, & B. S. Walters. February 2011. University of Michigan. Web. Accessed March 8, 2013. http://www.michiganflora.net/
New York Natural Heritage Program. 2023. New York Natural Heritage Program Databases. Albany, NY.
Rhoads, Ann F. and Timothy A. Block. 2005. Trees of Pennsylvania. A Complete Reference Guide. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, PA.
Weldy, T. and D. Werier. 2010. New York flora atlas. [S.M. Landry, K.N. Campbell, and L.D. Mabe (original application development), Florida Center for Community Design and Research http://www.fccdr.usf.edu/. University of South Florida http://www.usf.edu/]. New York Flora Association http://newyork.plantatlas.usf.edu/, Albany, New York
This guide was authored by: Richard M. Ring
Information for this guide was last updated on: November 23, 2022
Please cite this page as:
New York Natural Heritage Program. 2023.
Online Conservation Guide for
Quercus shumardii var. shumardii.
Available from: https://guides.nynhp.org/shumard-oak/.
Accessed December 8, 2023.